CUT FROM A DIFFERENT CLOTH: AN ESTEEMED HIGH POINT RUG DEALER DONATES HIS FORTUNE TO PAKISTANI SCHOOLCHILDREN.

• Author: Wanbaugh, Taylor
• Position: NC TREND: Philanthropy

During his 41 years in High Point, Zaki Khalifa has developed one of the nation's largest Oriental rug distributorships and gained a reputation as one of Furniture City's most philanthropic business leaders. Now, Khalifa, the 73-year-old owner of Zaki Oriental Rugs, is moving into a new phase of his life. He donated his current 100,000-square-foot space on South Main Street and his remaining rug inventory, which runs in the millions of dollars, to Pakistani nonprofit Akhuwat, which will reap the proceeds once the property is sold. Akhuwat works to reduce poverty through interest-free micro-loans and free grade-school education. Khalifa is packing his bags for Lahore, Pakistan, where he'll spend eight months out of the year teaching children at Akhuwat schools.

"It was a difficult decision," Khalifa says. "But I want to spend my remaining years impacting the lives of the maximum amount of people. This is an area where I can help thousands of children. ... We need education. These are the most desperate kids that have no hope for the future."

Helping others isn't new for the High Point resident. He previously gifted his former High Point showroom spaces to house the chamber of commerce, the convention and visitors bureau and Community Against Violence, a local nonprofit. He and his wife, Rashida, have contributed thousands of dollars and hours to the Al-Aqsa Community Clinic, a Burlington-based free health clinic co-founded by Rashida, and Friends of Aabroo, a nonprofit founded by Zaki that provides a free education for more than 4,000 Pakistani children.

Pakistan, wedged in South Asia between Afghanistan and India, is the fifth most-populous nation, with more than 212 million people. Nearly 39% of Pakistanis live in poverty due to lack of education and poor health facilities, according to a 2016 report from the country's Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform.

"I've decided to donate around 80% of my net worth to charity," Khalifa says. "I don't have to have the biggest house or the nicest car. One is to live comfortably in life, but one should do what they can to help better society."

Khalifa came from a prominent Pakistani family and was raised in part by his grandfather, a successful attorney who was politically connected. A graduate of Forman Christian College, he spent two years working as a management trainee in a bank in Karachi, one of Pakistan's...